Compass calibration and signal strength

[marty78]

Hi all,

There's probably a wealth of info and knowledge out there but if would just like to throw it out there in case there are quick answers. Just two things that I'm finding a little annoying about my Mavic Mini (which I love otherwise):

1) Every time I get it out to use it it requires compass calibration. Is that normal? Is there something I'm not doing right or is that normal? Usually it does it fine but can be a bit of a pain.

2) Signal strength - I've read a few things and tried a couple of tricks. I have the antenna straight up so pointing ahead if holding the controller flat rather than up. I have a Samsung Galaxy S8 and before I start to fly I use airplane mode to disable wifi and bluetooth. I have also bought a slide on gold reflective signal booster that goes over the antennas. I can understand interference in a fairly built up area and seem to get great signal on a remote beach as might be expected and can potentially go for a mile or so. The other day I flew in a very open place with fields for miles and views right into the distance. I kept losing signal at a ridiculously short distance, at around 360 feet or even less I could go about 600 to 1000 feet when I was expecting it to go further before completely losing signal.
Is there anything I can do or does the situation sound quite normal?
Many thanks

 

[slup]

1)
When you say every time ... how often is that. The Mini & several other models have a stupid calibration interval built into the software ... if not calibrated in the last 30 days or if you have moved the drone a certain distance from where it was used previously (don't remember the distance now but think's it's around 50km) the app will request a compass calibration.

2)
Below is how you should adjust the antennas according to the manual ... the flat side should be pointing towards the Mini at all times.

 

[marty78]

Thanks slup, it could well be the 30 days or 50km distance then. The last few times I have flown it were well over 50km apart. It seems to be every time I get it out the case to fly it but not normally if I change the battery in the same flight session as far as I remember. I last flew it 2 weeks ago so may fly it again this week and see if it asks. It will be very much the same location as 2 weeks ago so will rule out the 30 days and distance element.

Thanks for the aerial info also, I'll leave the signal reflector off next time and try pointing the aerials up more. Does it help turning off wifi and bluetooth on the phone itself?

 

[old man mavic]

@marty78 what you need to remember is that the signal is being radiated and received from the flat faces of the antennas ,as per the pics that @slup supplied from the manual,and also trees in leaf and any sort of moisture are very good at absorbing the signals to and from the drone, so try to keep a line of sight between the RC and the drone and be careful flying over a heavily wooded area

 

[slup]

.... Does it help turning off wifi and bluetooth on the phone itself?

I fly the Mavic Air 1 myself ... it's also a craft with enhanced WiFi transmission, the same as your Mini 1 uses. Have never turned WiFi or BT off on my screen device and haven't seen any worse connection coming from that. But turning them off wouldn't hurt anything so do what you think is best.

As said in the previous post ... going out of line of sight by letting obstacles coming in between the RC & the Mini + not pointing the flat side of the RC antennas in the direction of where your Mini is ... is devastating when it comes to connection quality.

 

[Arnold LeVine]

Also, the gold reflector addons concentrate the signal into a relatively tight beam. So if you are pointing directly at the drone like in the last pic (of the 4 illustrations by slup above) you are concentrating the signal, but in the third pic, the signal would be concentrated towards the ground! And in any case, if the drone is behind the RC, you are sending a concentrated signal 180 degrees in the wrong direction!

 

[marty78]

Excellent, many thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.
I'll give the location and aerial alignment more consideration on the next flight and see how things go.